Second Class Citizens

If you don't have children, and maybe even if you do, this post is going to sound RIDICULOUS.

Andrew and I are second class citizens in San Francisco. And that sucks for C and D. Why? Because I can't get them into preschool. Yes, I applied to 5 preschools and we're going to get rejected from all. So I'm going to send them to a kind of "pseudo" preschool next year and go through the whole process with 5 other schools again next year.

I cannot explain how ridiculous it all is... I have spent probably 60 hours on this, and another 100 worrying about it. I hear stories of people having to sleep out overnight to get a spot and I am so jealous. I'd sleep out for a weekend and it would be MUCH easier. Not to mention the fact that the process would be much less damaging to my ego.

So what's the deal? First, we live in a very competitive part of the city for preschool. Second, regardless of what they say, it is about who you know (and $$$). The schools that really kill me are the ones that pretend to be a 'lottery' but then as my friend says (who got in) "yeah right, it is all the people from my neighborhood who get in."

Now if you've bothered to read this far I guarantee you are thinking "Who the hell cares??? It's PRESCHOOL!" You're totally right.....to a point. First, there is a difference. A few of the schools I applied to are AMAZING. the location is better, the activities better, the facility better, and the teachers are better. There is a huge difference between preschools actually. Now some of them are downright awful to me because they are so academic they'd give three year olds ulcers, but some really are pretty great and when you go on the tours you actually learn things. Second, eventually your kids do need to go to A preschool, and at this point we are seriously going to have to move out of the city next year if we can't get them into any preschool. Pretty silly huh. Third, (but this doesn't matter to us), you need to get into a good preschool to have any shot of getting into kindergarten. I know, absurd, but the public school system in SF is pretty awful.

The problem I have with all of this is that it has nothing to do w/ my children and everything to do with their parents. At least when I was waiting for college replies it had something to do w/ my accomplishments! (I seriously feel like I'm 18 again, running out to the mail, trying to judge the reply based on thickness of envelope). I am not going to lie--I can't help but think "why is so-and-so better than C/D?" when I hear about other kids getting in. As Andrew says "He/She isn't better, but his parents are :)."

There is a silver lining...a lot of the people I know who aren't getting in are "more like us" anyway. And while I'm sure C/D will do just fine wherever they go, I wonder how much longer I'll want to put up with this circus. Education is the single greatest reason I'd leave the Bay Area.

Guess there is always homeschooling...